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The latest Q1 2025 results from Virgin Media and O2 have today been released, which saw their gigabit broadband network grow by 165,000 premises in the quarter to cover 18.4 million UK homes and related customers suffer a sharp fall to total 5,694,900 (down by -44k in Q1 vs +12k in Q4 2025) “due to heavy discounting in the market“. The operator’s outdoor 5G mobile cover also increased to 77%.
The new results confirm that the combined Virgin Media and nexfibre fixed broadband network now reaches a total of 18,420,900 Homes Serviceable (up from 18,255,600 in Q4) across the UK and the vast majority of the new quarterly build is from nexfibre’s full fibre FTTP lines (this network alone now accounts for around 2.2 million premises of the total).
The results reveal that a total of around 6.8 million Virgin Media and nexfibre premises (footprint) are now covered by FTTP lines (XGS-PON and RFOG), which is up from 6.4m in Q4 2024. But this also factors in Virgin’s ongoing upgrade of existing Hybrid Fibre Coax (HFC) areas to FTTP under Project Mustang (i.e. aiming to convert all of Virgin’s existing HFC and RFOG lines to XGS-PON by 2028).
Finally, a tiny portion of the quarterly nexfibre build figures (shown below) will also include a bit of infill build from Virgin Media itself, which usually takes place on existing new build homes sites (i.e. the legacy of long contracts and housing development projects). But otherwise, we note that the Q1 pace of build appears to have slowed quite considerably vs previous quarters (note: Q4 2024 included the impact of Upp’s merger), which was unexpected.
Nexfibre Rollout Progress
Q1 2025 = 165,000 Premises
Q4 2024 = 485,500 Premises
Q3 2024 = 281,100 Premises
Q2 2024 = 295,300 Premises
Q1 2024 = 194,000 Premises
Q4 2023 = c.299,000 Premises
Q3 2023 = 250,800 Premises
Q2 2023 = 175,500 Premises
Q1 2023 = 107,800 Premises
Q4 2022 = 24,000 Premises
Just for context. Telefónica, Liberty Global and InfraVia Capital Partners established a new £4.5bn joint venture called nexfibre in 2022 (here), which aims to deploy an open access full fibre (FTTP) network to reach “up to” 7 million UK homes (starting with 5m by 2026) in areas NOT served by Virgin Media’s own network of 16m+ premises. But Virgin Media, which shares some of the same parentage, is currently the only major ISP on this network (here).
Elsewhere, Virgin Media has long stopped giving any solid figures for their Pay TV (video) base, which often happens when a base is in decline.
VMO2 Q1 2025 UK Customer (Connection) Figures
5,694,900 Fixed Broadband – (down from 5,738,900 in Q4)
45,685,000 Mobile inc. Wholesale – (down from 45,700,700)
The latest results also state that outdoor 5G mobile coverage is now available to 77% of the UK population (up strongly from 75% in Q4 2024 and 68% in Q3) and we note that their mobile base has shrunk a little bit. On the financial front, VMO2 reported total revenue of £2,480.1m in Q1 2025, which is down from £2,716.2m last quarter.
Lutz Schüler, CEO of VMO2, said:
“We have started the year on track with guidance delivering growth in core revenues and profitability. Against a tougher Q1 trading environment we have kept our focus on retaining customer value through fast and reliable connectivity coupled with disciplined pricing and improved service.
Our investments in networks and services are continuing to position us well for the future. We have seen a further improvement in customer service as our turnaround strategy shows green shoots, with lower complaints and higher satisfaction. On the mobile side, we’ve expanded 5G to reach three quarters of the UK population while improving network quality in key locations, and the expected acquisition of spectrum from Vodafone-Three will further bolster our position. On fixed, our combined full fibre footprint continues to grow and now approaches seven million premises, while we also start trials of giffgaff broadband to increase our reach in the market.
We remain focused and on course to deliver our full year guidance as we build on the foundations laid last year to return to growth in 2025.”
Sadly, the latest results didn’t include much in the way of any useful updates on Virgin Media’s plans for opening their existing fixed broadband network up to wholesale via their new NetCo (originally anticipated for the first half of 2025). But it is worth remembering that giffgaff recently confirmed their intention to trial and launch a range of full fibre (FTTP) home broadband packages via nexfibre and Virgin Media’s national networks (here).
In terms of those customer losses, this has likely been driven by the impact of their recent annual mid-contract price hikes, as well as competition from the new generation of often cheaper alternative networks. But so far Virgin Media has done a modest job of staying on top of such things, although the sharp fall in broadband customers during Q1 will no doubt cause some concern.